India overtakes UK to become 5th largest economy in the world

New Delhi, Sep 03: India has leaped past the United Kingdom to become the fifth-largest economy in the world. International Monetary Fund said, India took a lead in the final three months of 2021 to become the fifth-biggest economy.

The report stated that the size of the Indian economy in 'nominal' cash terms in the March quarter was $854.7 billion while UK's stood at $816 billion. This was on an adjusted basis, using the dollar exchange rate on the last day of the relevant quarter.

According to GDP figures from IMF, India extended its lead in the first quarter. IMF said, the Indian economy is forecast to grow more than 7 per cent this year.

A world-beating rebound in Indian stocks this quarter has just seen their weighting rise to the second spot in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, trailing only China's.

Britain has dropped behind India to become the world's sixth largest economy, delivering a further blow to the government in London as it grapples with a brutal cost-of-living shock.

The report came just two days after the government made public the GDP data for the first quarter, which stated the Indian economy grew at a rate of 13.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis. While this number was a little lower than RBI's forecast, the growth rate was the highest among developing countries. In this fiscal, India is projected to grow at about 7 per cent.